income

Prices for prescription drugs are on the rise, adding to an overall increase in health-care costs, especially for seniors and others on fixed incomes. Who’s to blame for the rising costs – drug manufacturers, insurance companies or our nation’s health care system in general? What can consumers do about it? Join us for a discussion about the High Cost of Prescription Drugs on INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAIʻI.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

Caring for our keiki is pricey. A recent study says Hawai‘i families pay an average of $700 to nearly $2,000 per month for child care. And that’s if parents can find space at licensed childcare centers – where supply is far short of demand.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

Retirement: Those golden years when you can enjoy leisure, spend time with family and perhaps travel. But is this dream truly within reach? With many private-sector workers at significant risk of not having enough retirement income to meet basic needs, State lawmakers see a crisis, and are considering a measure to address this problem. Are you prepared to retire? Join the conversation on INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAI‘I.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

FRONTLINE investigates how state governments and Wall Street led America’s public pensions into a $4-trillion hole. What are the consequences for teachers, police, firefighters, and other public servants and who will be held accountable?

INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAI‘I presents a series exploring the quality of life on each island, with residents from each island driving the conversations. What issues matter most to each island? These episodes are a precursor to our upcoming Election 2018 coverage. Our first discussion explores the issues most important to the residents of Kaua‘i.

Join us during our live discussion by phoning in, or leaving us a comment on Facebook or Twitter. INSIGHTS is also live streamed on pbshawaii.org and Facebook Live.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

According to a recent Aloha United Way report, nearly 50 percent of Hawai‘i households are unable to make ends meet. Around 11 percent are living below the poverty level, and about a third could be considered Hawai‘i’s “Working Poor,” or “ALICE,” an acronym coined by United Way that stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

These households have income above the federal poverty level, but not enough to afford basic necessities including housing, child care, food, transportation and health care. How does this affect our community’s economic outlook, if nearly half of our population struggles to make ends meet?

Join us during our live discussion by phoning in, or leaving us a comment on Facebook or Twitter. INSIGHTS is also live streamed on pbshawaii.org and Facebook Live.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

FRONTLINE follows three young girls in the Midwest growing up amidst their families’ struggles against financial ruin. This is an intimate portrait of the economic crisis as it’s rarely seen, through the eyes of children. With one in five American children living below the poverty line, this is an unflinching and revealing exploration of what poverty means to children.

What can we do to avoid a caregiver crisis? Most of the 150,000 caregivers in Hawai‘i are women over 50 years old, and many are caring for someone in their 80s. Nearly half have left the workforce to be a caregiver, leaving their financial future at risk. With Hawai‘i’s aging population, the pool of potential caregivers declines so significantly that we are headed for a crisis with each passing year. Families, businesses and our entire island state will be impacted by the economic trend this creates.

AARP Hawai’i is hosting a Caregiving Conference on Saturday, March 25th. There will be sessions on planning, long-term care and life insurance, reverse mortgages, Medicaid and other government programs.

There will also be tips for improving quality of life at home. Saturday, March 25th, from 8 am until noon at the Japanese Cultural Center.

Asian Americans are the best-educated and highest-income ethnic group in the United States. They are often referred to as the “model minority,” suggesting that all Asians are successful in school and in life. But Southeast Asian Americans have some of the lowest high school completion rates in the nation. Visit Long Beach, California – the city with America’s largest Cambodian community – to find out why this educational crisis is occurring and what people are doing about it.